Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth Questioned About Policy Around Base Security By Kevin Cramer

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During Wednesday’s Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) questioned Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth about base security policy.

Transcript

00:00Mr. Kramer. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Secretary-General, for being here, for your service.

00:06I want to go back to something that Senator Hirono mentioned in her questioning.

00:12She credited the Obama administration, along with some other allies, with curbing Iran's nuclear capabilities.

00:19As I recall, it licensed their aspirations.

00:25And Syria's problem, we're still living with some of that.

00:28And by the way, when it comes to deterrence, and I appreciate you making this point,

00:32and I agree with my colleague from Alaska, Senator Sullivan, on this.

00:37Deterrence is definitely made up of weapons, but it is more of a reputation than it is a capability.

00:44The capability is only good if you have earned the reputation.

00:48With that in mind, and speaking of Iran and current situation,

00:54maybe, General, I could ask you this.

00:57If FURDO was destroyed, demolished, if all of the nuclear capabilities that Iran has today were wiped out,

01:07would the war be shortened or lengthened?

01:12Realizing that's not the only factor, of course.

01:14Yes, sir.

01:15And, of course, I can't split that hair, given the complexities of the war that's ongoing there.

01:22So I'd rather not comment on one particular part.

01:26You know, the Israelis are, as reported in the open source press, are making great progress.

01:31So I think I'll just leave it at that, Senator.

01:33And I understand and appreciate that.

01:35Can you then highlight for me, as we talk about deterrence and reputation,

01:40I'm sitting here thinking about the air superiority that Israel has accomplished over Iran.

01:50I'd like to have you speak to that and then speak, perhaps, to the lack of air superiority that Russia's had over Ukraine

01:59and the difference in those two wars.

02:00And my point being, how important is air superiority in the current fights and in our future fights?

02:09Well, sir, we could spend hours talking about the advocacy of air power.

02:14I think the freedom of maneuver that it creates is a great example of that.

02:19If you look at the two theaters right now with the Israeli Air Force striking at will at this point

02:26over, Ron, juxtaposed with the challenges that we're having with a frozen forward line of troops in Europe

02:34is a great case study of it.

02:36You know, the great thinkers, air power thinkers, are looking at the advancement in technologies from both theaters,

02:43the advancement of first-person view drones and things like that.

02:48And I think folks are going to have to think clearly about what does the future of air superiority look like

02:54and how does it evolve to make sure that we're protecting those essential teammates that are on the ground

02:59fighting in order to prevent frozen flots, forward lines of troops in the future.

03:06I appreciate that.

03:08Secretary Haig-Seth, there's been some discussion, certainly in your opening statements,

03:13and then with a couple of the questions related to base defense.

03:17And this would be something both of you could speak to, but I'd like to start with you, Secretary.

03:21Secretary Haig- Obviously, we've seen some pretty spectacular displays of the ability to go deep,

03:29covertly deep within the enemy's territory and take out some pretty significant assets,

03:34both in Russia and in Iran.

03:38A lot of us fear that we're vulnerable as well.

03:42You spoke very briefly, a reference, I think, in response to one of Senator Gillibrand's questions

03:47about the importance of policy.

03:49So when we talk about the United States itself and our bases here in the country,

03:55policy is a bigger challenge than weapons, to be honest.

03:59But what about responsibility?

04:02In other words, I think to me there's some confusion over who's – is there a service,

04:07is there a particular institution that's responsible for base security and base defense,

04:12or is it up to the individual services to protect their own bases?

04:16Can you help straighten that out for me?

04:19Senator, you're right to ask the question.

04:21We met on this very topic two days ago because you're right.

04:27We've already made initial efforts, but I liken it to the effort that was made around IEDs in Iraq and Afghanistan,

04:33where it couldn't be a service-only response.

04:37It needed to be across the joint force.

04:38It needed to be immediate, and the capabilities had to be prepared to adapt in real time

04:43to adjustments the enemy is making, and you saw that in things that could – in counter-IED technology.

04:48We need the same type of effort in counter-UAS, not just forward-deployed,

04:53because right now you do it with what you have, but also at home considering the authorities.

04:57So that is something the department is doing in real time.

05:01If you have a second.

05:03I guess that's it.

05:04I'm out of time.

05:05Thank you very much, Senator Kramers.

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